Air Traffic Slump Drives On-Time Improvement Again in February

By

WSJ Staff

Apr 10, 2009 10:06 am ET

The downturn in the economy — and the corresponding slump in air travel — continue to give the U.S. air travel system a respite from the congestion it faced in recent years. The Journal reports that U.S. carriers’ on-time and baggage-handling performance improved again in February from January and from a year earlier, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Reporter Kerry E. Grace writes:

Alaska Air Group Inc.’s Alaska Airlines had the worst on-time performance in February at 76.3%, while Hawaiian Airlines again had the best, at 91.2%.

The DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Services said the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance had an overall rate of 82.6%, up from 68.6% a year earlier and 77% in January. The agency said the carriers canceled 1.2% of their scheduled flights, down from 3.6% in the prior year and 2.3% in January.

The on-time performance results in February were the fourth-best of the 15 years with comparable numbers for the month. A flight is counted as “on time” if it operated less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time shown in the carriers’ computerized reservation systems. The airlines overall had a rate of mishandled baggage of 3.56 per 1,000 passengers in February, down from 6.41 a year earlier and 5.2 in January.